Remember this jingle?

My dog’s faster than your dog,

My dog’s bigger than yours.

My dog’s better ’cause he gets Ken-L Ration,

My dog’s better than yours.

Ken-L Ration has lean red beef,

And lots of other good things,

When my mum goes to the store,

She buys a million cans or more.

Let us help you jog your memory with the commercial below:

Ken-L Ration (a play on the World War II-era K-ration) was once owned by Quaker Oats.  Back in the 1950s, it was major sponsor of a local TV show in New York City called, “We Love Dogs” and as hard as it is to imagine now, a dog or puppy was featured as the prize in a contest each week. Viewers were invited to write and send letters to explain why they should win the dog. The next week, the winning letter was read and the winner appeared on the show and was given the dog.

A better idea was started in 1954 when Ken-L Ration began honoring exceptional canines by awarding the Dog Hero Of The Year Award, what some called the canine equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Over 80 children and adults were saved by the dogs that the prize honored in the 42 years it was given.  To our knowledge, the recipients included 12 mixed breeds, and the rest were purebred dogs that included five German Shepherds, five St. Bernards, five Collies, two Poodles (read one of their stories here), a Newfoundland (his story is here), one Cocker Spaniel, one Sheltie, one Great Dane, one Chesapeake Bay Retriever, two Labrador Retrievers, one Weimaraner, and an American Pit Bull Terrier. The largest heroes were “Mijo” (1967) and “Grizzly Bear” (1970), both weighing around 180 pounds. The smallest was “Mimi”(1972), a Miniature Poodle who stood only twelve inches high. You can read some of the stories about their heroics here.

Males outnumbered females (twenty five to seventeen), and geographically, California headed the list with eight Dog Heroes. Four lived in Texas, three in New Jersey and Washington; two in Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and Ohio; and one each in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Minnesota.

The last known year the award was issued was 1996. These days, heroic dogs are honored by the AKC with AKC Humane Fund Awards for Canine Excellence, or ACE award.

Our image is of the official illustrated dog map of the world that Ken – L. Ration produced in 1967. You can still buy a copy of it for $39.95 here.